cabinet refacing for diyer (x post from kitchens)

My boxes are fine so after doing some pricing I'm thinking about just replacing the doors. Went to HD this morning and they only had one brand of replacement doors.

Here are my thoughts:

I've searched the net and there are plenty of vendors but has anyone tackled this and if so please forward any recommendations. I'm looking for Thomasville quality doors. Any recommendations?

My current cabinets are a walnut stained veneer over solid wood, not particle board so I'm planning on sanding down the boxes and spraying them white/taupe since I think that will be easier to match then then a wood stain and I can cover some of the wear on the boxes. Any tips or advice on paint or sprayer would be appreciated.

If anyone has pics are can recommend a thread showing a project like this I would be extremely grateful.

I went over to the kitchens forum so I could link that thread over here, and couldn't find it.

Other than having them made, I really don't have any new suggestions on where to get them.

On spraying though I do have an opinion. Is your house empty or can you empty the kitchen and tape it off completely? IMO, spraying gives a nicer finish than brushing paint, and it's faster too. But I wouldn't do it if there is anything in the kitchen that can't be sealed off because the paint fog will get on everything.

I bought custom doors for our IKEA cabinets. I used Advantage Cabinet Doors, and I am very happy with our doors. Our doors are paint grade poplar, but Advantage has all kinds of different woods, and they also paint or stain for you using the Sherwin William's deck for an upcharge.

We sprayed them ourselves using the Wagner Paint Crew airless sprayer. They turned out beautifully. We had 69 door and drawer fronts to paint, and it took us all Memorial weekend. We had several tables set up on one side of our garage for the doors to sit on, and when the doors were dry enough to handle, we moved them to the other side of the garage to ready for the next batch of doors. We primed both sides, and then did two finish coats, letting them dry for 24 hours between final coats. We didn't cover our garage floor, and it got painted, too. LOL.

I love my Sherwin Williams by my house, and I had painted trimwork with the Pro Classic and loved working with it. I used SW Pro Classic Latex. We did NOT have to thin it at all. We also used SW Preprite, Seals and Bonds Primer through the sprayer. My husband did the actual spraying, and he did an excellent job. My job was to take up the slack on the hose and keep it out of his way.

We did this on a gorgeous Memorial weekend (2010), so we had the garage doors open, but amazingly nothing flew in to the paint.

my goodness that's a ton of doors/drawer fronts!! I counted mine up and I'd have 33 (I think) and that's counting 4 drawer fronts for each base cab (except the sink cab)if I manage to make them into 4 drawer cabs.

I know--I didn't even get all of them in that picture. LOL. There are 69 of those bad-boys. Three of them are actually finished side/end pieces to some upper cabs. We had been making our own with beadboard and trim up to that point, and I said to DH, "Hey, why don't I just order pieces for the ends like the fancy-schmancy kitchens have?" I am sure he wanted to smack me right then. Heh.

He got me back, though. As I was struggling to prime the backs on the first batch of the doors with my trusty roller and trim brush, he walked into the garage and casually said, "Hey, what if we used the airless sprayer I bought last year?" Yes, I wanted to smack him right then. The rest is history. ;)

'he walked into the garage and casually said, "Hey, what if we used the airless sprayer I bought last year?"'

ugh! no one mentioned (cursed at) the mountainous job of hand painting all of those? giving him plenty of opportunity to mention it in ADVANCE?

I immediately looked up that sprayer you mentioned! not sure it'd be worth the cost to me for my few tho. more of mine would be drawer fronts - easy enough with a roller I think. the hardest part will be the time they hang around off the drawers drying...

no one mentioned (cursed at) the mountainous job of hand painting all of those? giving him plenty of opportunity to mention it in ADVANCE?

You would think so, wouldn't you? He was perfectly aware of the monumental task ahead of me and even ribbed me about it saying "It's going to take you 6 weeks to paint those, even if you paint them every day." I truly think that he forgot about the sprayer because he used it to stain the deck and wasn't thinking paint. That is what I want to believe anyway. ;)

Steph, I painted all the trim and doors (except for in the office) on our main floor this winter and did it with a high density foam roller. It was not bad at all, and the finish is very smooth. It's really all in the prep. DH bought a sander right before this last project, and manohman that was so nice! He was kicking himself for not getting one of those for our kitchen project. It made those doors a piece of cake.

I bet so too - at least, if he likes living it be a dangerous thing to do on purpose... lol!

that's what I was thinking - with a foam roller and a few foam (small) brushes I should be able to do it. slowly thru out the spring maybe (or even summer since it's too hot to be outside much). That'd be a yr from the coming summer.

and I've planned on buying a sander anyway for other projects here. so, you HAND sanded all of those? yikes!

I do plan to repaint the inside doors because the guys just used an eggshell finish on them. I think I'd rather have a semi-gloss so they'll be easier to wipe down. I can practice on the backsides of the bedroom doors first. That'll also tell me if I really want semi-gloss on them. I think that's what I had on doors in prev homes. I can also check doors at my sister's house. gee, her house is such a 'house lab' to me. She gets a bit irritated at times when I go around taking pics of things there or asking for measurements (how tall is your bathroom faucet? kitchen? did you put large tiles in bathrooms? do you like the lights in your DR? LR? BDRM? what brand is your handheld shower? where'd ya buy it? etc) - lol!

and I've planned on buying a sander anyway for other projects here. so, you HAND sanded all of those? yikes!

The cabinet doors? Oh goodness--no! They came already sanded; I just did a very light sanding between coats, which was basically a quick, light swooshing. It would have been nice for other projects in the kitchen (and elsewhere), though.

The high density foam rollers were so nice to work with, and I had a trusty stubby paint brush (Wooster, I think) that was wonderful for the inside edges of the door panel and the trimwork. I found I had such better control with my brushing using the stubby. And I love the SW Pro Classic paint. To me, it makes painting actually enjoyable because it just glides on.

I have the semi-gloss finish in my kitchen--actually it is on all the woodwork, which looks more satiny in this brand of paint. It is not glossy at all. And it cleans up so nicely, which is so important with a houseful of slobs with grubby hands! That I love very much. (thought I'd better add that...)

They have them at hardware stores and Home Depot. I have purchased them there, so I am sure of that one.

ML, I was certain I would make a mess with the sprayer and DH was certain I would make a mess as well, so he did it. :D He had a piece of cardboard he practiced on first, and he seemed to master the technique rather quickly. Just keep in mind, when using a sprayer, it is called a sprayer for a reason. Cover EVERYTHING you don't want painted, even if you *think* it is out of the reach of the spray! Don't ask me how I know; just trust me. ;)

Well, you have given me lots of food for thought. I'm not going to be spray painting anything except maybe before it is installed. Not that many cabs to do. But, doors? well maybe can do outdoors with a big tarp hoisted around the area to keep out POLLEN. Always some tree pollen it seems.

I want one of those brushes too. I keep my brushes for a long time, and like my tools to be clean and neat--which means DH cannot use MY tools. He trashes every painting tool he touches. ... but I still love him...

...and I like my ceilings painted a white semi-gloss latex too. It does bounce light more, and I like that. I can see in some instances folks might NOT want it to happen. But I saw what a different white the crown molding was from the ceiling paint, and I just kept painting and now it all looks RIGHT.

I have been using Walzcraft refacing products for over 25 years and in my humble opinion they provide the best value doors, drawer fronts, etc. in the business. THEY SERVICE ALL OF THE MIDWEST AND BEYOND...

Hope Shelayne is still hanging in there with us, and comes back to tell us how her house is doing after almost a year.

Oh, ML, you are just too sweet! Thank you for thinking of me!

The house is still standing--LOL. No, we have done a lot of work on it and are now working on the basement. I think I can say that the kitchen is finally finished. Well, there is the stairwell off the kitchen that needs to be finished. I suppose I need to post finished pics someday, as I did promise to do so. I need to find my camera, as my phone camera is just *pfffft*.

I also need to post when it's clean, and right now, with the kids home from school and all the Christmas festivities, it is being used. A lot. And that is a good thing, really. I am truly blessed. :)

A clean brush is a subjective thing. I do high end yacht varnish. some times 12 coats on teak rails. We charge out at 59 dollars per hour so to clean a 20 dollar brush is not time well spent. also a couple of stuck hairs on the brush might force a sand out do over. The boat capt checks our work before the owner and he won't listen to " no one will see it there".

Our house has ipswitch pine walls, v match ceilings oak or tile floors. The living room floor is wide red oak with walnut plugs and 8 coats of spar varnish. I would rather have a capt inspect then my wife.